Spin-Offs and Their Impact on Shareholder Wealth: An Empirical Analysis on the German Capital Market

Abstract

A parent company occasionally spin-off a subsidiary or a business unit if this helps to focus on the core business, eliminate a poor performer or reduce negative synergies in order to improve operational efficiency. Achieving a more efficient valuation on the capital market can also be a motive for a spin-off. The assumption is thus that spin-offs increase shareholder wealth. Despite the high relevance of spin-offs as a restructuring measure, empirical research has not yet sufficiently addressed this topic. The reasons for this are, on the one hand, the lack of topicality of publications and, on the other hand, the lack of consideration of the value effects of spin-offs in the European and, in particular, the German economic area. Accordingly, there is currently no adequate literature covering spin-offs in Germany. As a result, this paper addresses this problem by conducting an analysis of spin-offs in Germany. Consequently, this paper examines wealth effects for a sample of 8 spin-offs from Germany announced between January 2010 and February 2021. The cumulative average abnormal return over the three-day event window [1; +1] is 4.91%.